An identification device that supports tracking and tracing of items can be useful. Each item can be equipped with an identification device that carries an identifier, also referred to as a serial number. The identification device can be implemented as a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag and can be read via radio frequency communication. Multiple identification devices can be read at once.
Types of RFID tags may include active and passive RFID tags. Active RFID tags have their own power supply while passive tags solely operate on the power of the signal emitted by a reader. The reader is a special device that can interoperate with the tags and read the identifiers stored in their memory. More complex and powerful tags can store information in memory and even perform simple cryptographic operations such as hashing.